


Late Sunsets Over Autumnrest

by khaosmynd



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-17
Updated: 2019-08-17
Packaged: 2020-09-05 20:56:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20279704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/khaosmynd/pseuds/khaosmynd
Summary: Sally and Madison have spent the past few weeks in a small town called Autumnrest, investigating a series of disappearances believed to have been the work of a dhampir or werewolf. While going around town, Sally finally found the vehicle belonging to the person they've been looking for.





	1. 1

Madison frowned. It was sweltering and humid, and she could feel her arms sticking to the upholstery of the car. Tonight was supposed to be date night, but here she was, spending her evening feeling like she was melting alive in an old car that was on its last legs. She could almost smell the age of it radiating off of the leather-- or maybe it was just her. Considering how she was feeling at the moment, she believed that the smell could be from her.

"Sally, can ya, like, turn the AC on or something?” She pried herself from the leather she was sticking to, moving to face her girlfriend. "Ya told me that you were going to do it, uh... an eternity ago."

No response was given, and Madison huffed. Her girlfriend had her eyes fixated on the dinky pickup that she had found, which was parked outside of a bar. Madison rested her elbow onto the sweaty armrest and set her eyes on the truck, her vision unfocusing a bit as the heat made her zone out.

They were a few towns out from their own, somewhat near Branson and Ava in a small town called Autumnrest. Sally and Madison had been there for a few weeks, under fake aliases that were provided by their friend Monica, a former Hunter. Monica still had ties her old friends and was able to pay enough to get some work done to provide the two with cover and aliases that they needed for this job, and to keep it under the radar of the Hunters. Their cover was that they were undercover cops from out of town sent to investigate some disappearances of people that had went missing within and near the town. Cover aside, that _was_ why they were there, so they didn’t have to step around eggshells like usual. Dealing with dhampirs, werewolves, and the occasional magic-user required them to have something decent to excuse their business-- it's not like they had any official ties to the Hunters to let them do this work with no worries.

After sitting in silence for a few minutes, Madison groaned and reached towards the AC’s dial, only to have her hand slapped away from it. Jumping back a bit, she faced Sally again. “What the hell didja do that for?!”

Unmoving, Sally replied in a monotonous voice. “Turning the AC on without the car running is just going to drain the battery, and it’ll look really suspicious if someone sees a car parked sitting across the street, running under the shade.”  
  
Huffing again, Madison shuffled uncomfortably in her seat. “Ya could’ve just said that...” Staring at her for a moment, she looked her girlfriend up and down. “Ya look pretty hot in that suit.”

Sally took her gaze off the truck, turning to Madison with a tired look in her eyes. “Now’s not the time to be schmaltzy...”

“What? No, I mean… Yeah ya do look nice in it, but… I meant that ya actually look like you’re roasting up in that thing.”

“Oh.” She went back to staring at the truck, pulling her dyed dark red hair back. “I’ll be fine… Do you have a hair tie?”

Taking one off her wrist, Madison handed it to her. “Why are ya even wearing that anyway? You’re pretty overdressed for someone undercover.”

“Well, it’s Friday-- date night. We’ve been here for a few weeks doing work, and before I found the truck we’ve been looking for… I set up a dinner reservation for us in Branson.” She exhaled, leaning back into her seat, crossing her arms as she kept her eyes locked. “Didn’t have time to change out of it.”

“Branson? Oh wow, that must’ve--”

“Cost me a lot? Yeah. It did.”

Madison didn’t say anything, slumping into her seat and feeling a bit awkward._ She’s been so into this job that I had thought she__’d__ forgotten about us even having a date night._

“If we wrap this up tonight, I’ll treat you over the weekend.” Sally reached for Madison’s hand and held it. Their hands were both sweaty, and they both gagged upon contact.

“You don’t have--”

There was a wet sound as Madison squeezed Sally’s hand. “You’ve been making sure that I’ve been eating and resting while we’ve been out here. It’s the least I could do.”

“I, uh… Okay.” Sally squirmed a bit. “Can ya please let go of my hand? It’s like warm lunch meat.”

There was a nod, and her hand was let go.

They sat there in silence for a few minutes, until Madison’s stomach growled.

“Well… I’m gonna turn this stakeout into… a chicken fried stakeout!” A groan came from Sally, and Madison let out a weak laugh as she reached to the seats behind them to get her to-go box from lunch, glad that she grabbed it on the way out.

It was soggy-- it still tasted good, but it was mushier than the mashed potatoes that were with it. She wished that she had went with getting a burger instead of chicken fried steak, despite it tasting fine. Madison offered some to Sally, but she turned her down. Madison finished eating as they went back to sitting in silence.

The sky was starting to get dark as the sun set, and with that it was starting to cool off a bit. Unfortunately, with it getting dark it meant that they were going to have a harder time keeping an eye on the truck and for its owner. Or so they thought-- after having sat there for three hours, a hooded figure stepped out of the bar and made their way to the truck.

The two perked up, and Madison got herself close to the windshield, trying to get a good look at the figure. “Babe, can ya tell how pale they are from here?”

“What?” She was thrown off by that question. The evidence they had gathered showed that people had went missing in the afternoon-- a werewolf would have an easier time kidnapping someone during the day when compared to a dhampir. However, it was possible that it could be a dhampir-- the only thing they could actually track down was the vehicle, thanks to Monica helping them identify tire marks, and they unfortunately weren’t able to find anyone with that truck that lived nearby. Sally had seen the truck while driving around town, and the license plate it had was a fake.

“We made a bet! I told ya that it’d make more sense for the person to be a dhampir-- the people that have gone missing have all had a history with drugs. I could see a dhampir using some drugged-up people to get special blood.”

“I can’t tell what they even look like-- they’re covered up. And I don’t remember that, but then again... I’ve been tired. While that makes more sense, especially considering that they’re covered up in this weather, we are _not_ going to have a bet-- especially if I’m treating you after this.”

Placing the keys into the ignition, Sally got ready to start the car, and motioned to Madison to sit down and buckle up. The truck started, and they let it go a bit before starting their car. Being in a dark spot with tinted windows, they were certain that the driver hadn’t seen anyone sitting there. Sputtering to life, the car started.

Going down the town’s unpaved roads, they trailed the truck. The sky was getting darker now, and it was beginning to cool off. Sally and Madison rolled their windows down and relished in the cooling air. As they drove, Madison looked at her reflection, looking at her lightened hair with distaste-- she didn’t think that brown suited her. While they hit a few potholes down the road, eventually the road changed from unpaved to gravel and they found themselves pulling into the parking lot of the town’s fairgrounds.

“Oh, shit. Right. There’s been a fair going on… Guess we aren’t gonna miss it.” Madison got close to her window and looked at the entrance and what was beyond it. It looked like a place that would normally be abandoned. “Place looks pretty spooky, though.”

“Mhm. It doesn’t help that it’s across from a cornfield.” Pulling into a parking spot near the entrance, Sally stopped the car and took the keys from the ignition, looking at where the truck had parked.

“They get out yet?” Madison unbuckled her seatbelt, hopping herself around to peek to where her girlfriend was looking.

“Not yet.”  
  
“Should we get out? It’ll look weird if we get out when they do.”

“I don’t think that we have much of a choice... Come on,.” Sally started to open her door, but stopped. “Wait… How much money do you have on you? You’ve been the one getting all the food… Do we have enough to get into the fair?”

“Yeah, ‘course we do! I’ve been using Monica’s backup card for everything.”

“She’s gonna have your head on a stick one of these days… You really need to stop taking her cards. Remember what she said last time?”

Madison rolled her eyes, reaching for her backpack in the backseat, and slinging it over her shoulder. “She’s all talk-- I doubt cash is a problem for her anyways.”

They started to make their way towards the ticket booth, Madison putting a bit more into her step to try to keep up with Sally. There were a few lights by it, most flickering. Sitting in the booth was an older woman, wearing dark sunglasses and carrying the smell of alcohol on her. The two girls stood at the booth for a minute, waiting for the woman to say something. Then they heard her snoring. Madison looked at the gate for a second to see if she could maybe climb over it to avoid paying, but the gate was tall and made of bars that were close together.

Sally leaned down to her girlfriend and whispered. “What should we do? She might’ve drank a lot.”

“Well,” Madison looked at the woman in the booth. She got close to it, coughing as the scent of alcohol took over her senses. “I don’t think that people are allowed to sleep or drink on the job, so...”

_ **BAM! BAM! BAM!** _

A scream came from the woman as she fell backwards, being woken up from the booth’s window being pounded. Sally elbowed Madison, glaring down at her.

“Was that necessary!?” She hissed, whacking Madison upside the back of her head.

Madison rubbed her arm and the back of her head, looking up at her girlfriend. “Was _that_?”

The two tried to look inside the booth, hearing a groan come from it.

“Are you alright, ma’am?” Sally asked, trying to see where the woman was.

A hand reached up to the desk, moving around until it reached a button and slammed on it, the gates slowly starting to open. A slurred, tired voice came from the dark. “Just… go...”

_Oh sweet, I don’t have to pay. _Madison thought to herself, grabbing her girlfriend by the wrist and pulling her into the fairgrounds as she began to protest, yelling at Madison to pay the woman. Madison looked back and saw that the person from the truck was slowly walking into the grounds as well, hunched over and avoiding the lights.

Now inside the fairgrounds, Sally and Madison looked around at the place. It was pretty big, but they didn’t see too many people around-- those there were all bunched together. One thing that caught their attention was how quiet it was. The amount of silence, low amount of lights, and humidity made the place feel like some weird, grimy dreamscape.

“Really not digging this place… It’s gotta be even creepier during their autumn festival.” Madison spun on her heel to face her girlfriend, chuckling nervously as she was being loomed over by her. “Chill-- it’s… not like we’re here for the fair anyways.”

Sally’s expression changed, and she snapped around to see if the hooded person was anywhere to be seen. They weren’t. She grit her teeth. “_Shit!_”

“Ah, they couldn’t have gotten too far…” Letting go of Sally’s wrist, Madison rubbed her sweating palms on the roughly cut off legs of her overalls. “Let’s look around.”


	2. Chapter 2

Unsure of where to start looking, a pleasant aroma of savory and sweet food driftedthrough the air and drove Madison to follow her nose. Sally followed Madison, and the two made their way to a stand that had a sign lit by the limited lights of the fair-- _Templeman’s Hots ‘n Brats_. Behind the counter of it was a man, most likely in his 60s, with a widow’s peak and long white hair that was slicked back.

“Good evening, you two.” The man spoke with an English accent, and Sally and Madison looked at each other, a bit thrown off by it. “Is there anything that strikes your fancy?”

Madison walked up to the counter and tried to read the menu that was on the window. It was a bit too dark for her to. “Uh… Well, a bit of a wild guess, but I’m assuming that there are hot dogs and bratwurst here.”

“Those are there indeed there, yes. We also have some other items, it’s nothing fancy-- jalapeño poppers, fries, mozzarella sticks. Oh, and also cheesesteak.” The man smiled, and what light there was made his teeth shine. Madison could see that his canines were a bit more pronounced compared to most people, and had a certain curve to them.

“Y’know, I can never really find it around anywhere, but…” Madison leaned in a bit. “What about blood sausages?”

“No, we don’t have any of those. Sorry.” He looked at Madison with a raised eyebrow for a few seconds, and looked around. “You’re not very subtle, are you? Or funny, really… I really didn’t expect to see your ilk around these parts… You all tend to keep yourself around Bridges, waiting around for a moment to kill one of the last vampyres.”

“Apologies,” Sally stood next to Madison, keeping her voice low. “We’re not Hunters. Well, we do… the hunting part when needed. But we’re freelancers.”

The man looked the two over. “I see… Well at least there are some people who care about the oddities of this town. There have been many things that have happened, but my guess if that you two here are in town because of the disappearances.”

Madison stepped back from the counter a bit and looked around. She wasn’t ever really present for what she considered to be the ‘important’ conversations, so she figured it’d be best to keep an eye out while the other two were talking. She just hoped that they wouldn’t take too long-- the smell of food was making her hungry.

“I don’t mean to be _that_ sort of person,” Sally whispered. “but do you know of any other dhampirs or of any werewolves here? We, well _I_ thought, that we were dealing with a werewolf, but my partner believes that a dhampir is responsible… and the person we’ve been looking for was covered up quite a bit for this weather.”

“I agree with it being a dhampir-- a werewolf wouldn’t just pick people like fruit, no matter the type.” He paused to think. “Can’t say that there are any I know… We tend to keep away from each other outside of the places that are a bit safer for us, like Moon Valley or somewhere close to it-- like Jefferson City.”

“Hmm… While you don’t know any, have you seen any at all lately? Passing through or anything?”

The man shook his head. “We don’t get too many people passing through town, and I tend to stay indoors during the day.”

“Ah, alright-- I suppose that’s all.” Sally stretched and yawned. “Let’s look around some more.”

Madison turned around. “Huh? Oh, wait! Before we go, I would actually like to get something to eat… And something, uh...” Madison pointed at the man, trying to see the name on his name tag.

He looked at where she was looking, and then back at her. “Kain.”

“Thanks. Yeah, something ya said caught my attention. I’m...” Madison made her way to the counter again, clearing her throat while trying to remember what her alias was. “Kate. Ya said that some other weird shit happens here?”

"That’s… not what came from my mouth, but there are some weird things that happen in town… To be honest, I believe that they’re mostly just local legends made to draw in tourists for when there isn’t an event… Those have kind of died a bit-- more people go to the Ozark Empire Fair during the summer, and Apple Butter Makin’ Days gets more attention during autumn.”

Madison nodded. “Weird things like…?”

“Well, we sometimes get people talking about Momo being around here, but the one time we actually saw anything close to it, it just turned out to be a drunk man that hadn’t bathed in a week weeks and was wearing a Chewbacca costume.”

“Momo…?”

“Bigfoot, basically.” He took a sip from a paper cup. “In the spring, people talk about seeing weird lights and odd things happening, seeing… well, aliens. If anything, the town probably just has a few Imprints haunting it. Nothing as interesting as people would like. I’m sure you know of the mass suicide in the 70s that Bridges set up to clear the town of the cult that was here after he became the Vampyre Lord for the Midwest.”

“Wait, that happened here? Shit, I could see some poltergeists coming from that.”

“Mhm. In the fall, people talk about seeing things moving about in the cornfields… some go missing. Nobody has a solid description for what they see, and, truth be told, I do think there’s something out there… Would prefer to never find out what it is.”

“That’s nice… Would love to come here during the autumn festival-- this place is right across from one...” Madison nervously laughed, looking around for Sally. She was walking around, looking at other things and trying to find any signs of the person they were looking for.

“I don’t set up then. I just stay at home, or go out of town.” Another sip from his cup. “Aside from that stuff… there isn’t anything else that happens. However, a bit down the road there’s a forest-- a fairy forest. Back in 2011-- I’m sure you know a bit about this-- the seal on it busted and some of the fairies got out and ended up all the way over in Joplin. Hunters weren’t able to cover up what happened, so kids ended up seeing them, and after the tornado hit them in May, some kids said that they were protected by butterfly people.”

“Ah, I was out of state back then, so I had no idea about that… Fairies are moreso moth people though, aren’t they?”

“Mhm, but kids wouldn’t really know the difference.” Kain chuckled. “Anyways, you said that you wanted to order something.”

“Ah! Yeah, yeah...” Madison thought for a second, trying to remember what the items were. “A brat-- only mustard on it, a cheesesteak, and some mozzarella sticks.”

He nodded going to gather up the food, not even making a receipt. “That will be… $14.37.”

“I, uh...” Madison pulled out her wallet, getting $15 out in cash. “That’s quite a bit.”

“Yep,” Kain returned with the food. “The mozzarella sticks are actually more expensive than the brats and hot dogs. To be honest, I just took the prices for my items from other places.”

She exchanged the cash for her food. “Keep the change. Oh! Before we, uh… well before _I_ go-- my partner’s already… doing her… job.” She cleared her throat, a bit ashamed at how long she’d been standing there instead of looking for the hooded person. “Why are ya out here?”

“Oh, I was living on a rainy little island-- wanted to get out.” He handed Madison a large lidded cup with a straw poking from it. “For the change. But, uh… anyways, I think I might’ve went somewhere a bit worse.”

She accepted the cup-- it looked to be ice water. Her arms now full, she tried balancing everything. “Ah… Everything kinda sucks nowadays, unfortunately. Just kinda have to keep trucking until ya run over all the bad people.” She forced a laugh, feeling a bit frustrated at the reminder of how the past few years had felt like the world was falling apart to her. “Anyways, gotta go-- thanks for the food! Have a good one.”

“You too.”

Madison walked to where she had seen Sally go, munching down on the brat and noticing that what few people had been here had left. _I shouldn’t be eating while walking… Ah well, __I doubt that a brat will be the death of me. _She made her way to her girlfriend, who was pacing back and forth near a claw machine. Her suit’s jacket was off and folded, being held in one hand. Madison slid her backpack off and unzipped it.

“Any luck?” She realized that she spoke before she finished chewing, and she hoped that Sally understood what she said. She pointed to the unzipped backpack and Sally slid the jacket inside.

“Yeah, but...” Sally pointed to a group of some similar looking men that all stood in the same pose, all wearing old-fashioned parlor uniforms. They were blocking various paths. “There are some… odd guys making it hard to get around.”

“Um… Hmm. Have they done anything aside from just standing around…?” Looking around a bit, she saw a few places between booths and stands that they could slide through. She leaned towards her girlfriend and whispered. “… If you saw that person, we could squeeze through to get to them.”

Shaking her head, Sally whispered to her. “Those guys have all said ‘I’m an ice cream man. The machine is broken.’ when I’ve approached them. They don’t even move at all… It’s like they’re like statues. It’s really weird… Not even pulling out the badge I have got a different response.”

“Sounds like they’re my kinda people. Anyways, I kinda wasted enough time for us already, and...” Madison looked at where a few of them were. Sally was right-- they were like statues. “These dudes don’t look like they’ll be going anywhere anytime soon, so... Where’d ya see our hooded friend go?”

Sally pointed to a Ferris wheel that was mostly taken apart. “In that direction.” Realizing that she was parched, she then took the cup that Madison was holding and drank all that was inside, tossing the cup into a nearby trash can.

“There was still ice… Anyways, if that person goes up on that thing, you’ll have to follow them by yourself-- there’s no fucking way that I’m getting on a scrappy spinning wheel of nightmares. I’m close to the ground for a reason.” Madison stuffed the mozzarella sticks into her mouth and slid the cheesesteak into her backpack, kicking the trash can out of her way-- it was sturdier and heavier than she anticipated, but she shook her foot and started to squeeze between two stands. She gagged a bit upon touching the walls, causing some of the mozzarella sticks that she was chewing on to fall out of her mouth. Through a full mouth she mumbled. “Oh, gross... The walls are sweating.”

“If it comes to that, I’ll just yeet you-- it’d be faster. And at the very least, the walls aren’t breathing… Wouldn’t want a repeat of what happened in that house when we were in Frankenstein.” She gagged as well. _Is this slime? It feels like slime… __Ugh..._

“Make it a kobe and I’ll accept.” She swallowed what remained of the mozzarella sticks and gave Sally a thumbs up. “I’d stick my hand out for a shake, but I’m feeling things I don’t wanna feel right now. Should’ve packed gloves…”

_Is there a difference?_ Sally asked herself. While being unsure of what made the two things different, she gave Madison a thumbs up in return. A squelch came from her hand, and the two gagged in unison. Eventually the two of them had wiggled their way past the mysterious ice cream men. Peeking back to where they were, they still hadn’t budged. Sally felt hands slide down her sides, and she stifled a yelp. Feeling bile rise in her throat as her hand covered her mouth. She spun around to see Sally mouth _‘Sorry...’._

Madison frowned and rubbed her hands on the front of her overalls. _Nothing’s really even happened and this feels like it’s the worst job we’ve been on… _She cleared her throat. It burned. _Ugh,_ _I think I’__ve__ been eating too much greasy stuff…_

“Let’s find our creature of the night.” Sally hit Madison’s back a bit too hard, accidentally. After receiving a cold look, Madison pulled a flashlight out for the both of them and the two started to look around. The place was incredibly dead looking for somewhere that was supposed to be lively. However there wasn’t any trash laying around at all-- it was rather clean, aside from dust and cobwebs. The two girls wondered about how long this place had been blocked off. How long had those men been there? A few questions swam through their head as they were left to the silent sounds of the night, most with answers that they were sure they wouldn’t figure out tonight.

“This place isn’t normal, is it?” Madison jogged up to the Ferris wheel, where Sally had gone to. “Hell, there aren’t any cicadas out. They’ve been fucking every night we’ve been here, except for tonight.”

“As long as we’re not trapped in some sort of paranormal or magical area, it’s fine. We can tell Monica about it later. She’ll have some answers… probably. I think she’s lactose intolerant, so we might be out of luck for those ice cream men.” Sally stretched, then took her tie off and rolled the sleeves of her shirt up. Turning to Madison, she pointed her light to a nearby fence that looked like it had been cut and pried open. “There’s some muddy tracks going through that, and seems to go through the grass.”

  
“I didn’t see any water nearby.”

Sally moved her light inside the booth that stood by her. “In there-- most likely rainwater. Anyways… Haven’t you found it a bit odd on how we’ve easily been finding tracks this whole time? It’s like they want to get caught.”

“Could just be a dumbass. Or maybe the fact that the police hasn’t seemed to try investigating could be the reason for their sloppiness-- Why bother hiding if nobody’s looking?”

“Good point. Anyways, let’s get a move on.” She went over to the fence. “Gremlins first.”

Madison squeezed through the fence. “If I die tonight from anything-- probably dehydration because you stole my water-- I’m taking you with me.”

“That’s really sweet, darling. I think I feel tears starting to form.” Sally smiled and shoved Madison through to the other side, following her after she was through.


	3. Chapter 3

“I’m actually pretty peeved about you drinking all that water, babe.” Madison waded through the tall grass that lied beyond the gate, following the parts of it that were squished down by mud.

“You’ll be fine. You drool a lot already-- lowering the amount of water in your body will be a good thing.” She shoved Madison forward a bit.

Stumbling forward, Madison snapped to face her pushy girlfriend. “H-Hey! That’s twice tonight-- cut it out!.” She brushed some hair away from her face. “And you told me that the drooling’s cute!”

“It’s just a joke, take it easy. And sorry, you’re just… so... slow.”

“Well maybe you should’ve been the one to go first!”

“I’d rather not lose you to the grass-- I think it’s taller than you.”

Madison was about to go off on her, but out of her eye she saw a building illuminated by the moonlight. Grabbing Sally by the wrist, she crouched down and moved to a nearby tree.

“Think that they’re in there?” Madison peeked around the tree to see if she could see anyone inside. Nothing-- the place looked old and boarded up.

A long yawn came from Sally. “I don’t see anywhere else around, and unless this is a team thing I doubt that there’d be anything veiled by magic.”

Madison nodded, and let go of Sally, who was crouching down next to her now. Sliding her backpack, she sat it on the ground in front of her. Shining her flashlight over the bag, she opened it and was hit by the scent of the cheesesteak. Her mouth watered and she stared at it for a minute, captivated. _Just a little bit more, baby… We’ll have some alone time when this is over._ Moving the sandwich out the way, she reached down into the bag, her hand brushing against bandages and first-aid supplies as she went to the bottom. The tips of her fingers hit two barrels, and she grasped them, pulling out two guns and spilling a few of the bag’s contents. Sally took the guns from her as Madison stuffed everything back inside and put it back over her shoulders.

“Don’t do what you did last time, Madison.” She looked over the pistol she held. “You took that werewolf’s leg off because you didn’t have trigger discipline, and we couldn’t work for a month because the recoil hurt your shoulder.”

“First of all,” Madison took the revolver that was in Sally’s lap. “I meant to do that-- he was eating neighborhood dogs because he was ‘the alpha dog’, and he was about to book it. Second-- I can’t blow someone’s leg off with a revolver.”

“Sure you did-- your scream following it was planned.”She lifted the pistol into the moonlight and looked at it. She knew nothing about guns, but she thought that it looked like it’d do a good job. Her only worry was the sound-- and Madison with a weapon. “Anyways, 10 bucks you’ll hurt yourself with recoil again. It’s less of a hazard to the lives of everyone because of the hammer, but I’m sure it’ll have more punch than this.”

“I’ll be _fine._” Madison peeked at the building once more. It was fairly big, and seemed to be an older house. She returned to facing her girlfriend. “The whole place seems boarded up… Front door?”

Sally nodded. “As long as we’re quiet, we should be good. Just keep your eye out for snakes.”

Letting out a squeak, Madison got to her feet and started wading her way to the house, frantically looking at the ground._ For a minute I was in a world where the only things that bit you were dhampirs and werewolves… The sooner we’re out of this the better._

“Oh shit.” Madison spun to Sally. “We didn’t get any bug spray or bring any dryer sheets with us.”

“Yeah, yeah...” Sally slid the pistol down the back of her pants and nudged Madison forward. “A couple of bug bites are fine. Let’s just get inside already.”

Making it to the steps leading to the house’s porch, they climbed up them and got to the front door. Checking their surroundings, they both noticed the state of the place-- it looked like someone just carelessly slapped and nailed in some boards over broken planks of wood, and had stapled plastic sheets over any spots without wood. The two girls gave each other a confused look and placed themselves next to the door, with Madison being on the side closest to the handle. Sally reached over and turned the doorknob, being weirded out that it was unlocked. _This person’s made no attempts to really hide… Hope this isn’t a trap. Or, __well,__ someone’s home __if that person isn’t here, _She thought to herself. Pulling the door towards her, Sally and Madison waited a second before moving. Madison then shone her light inside and stepped in.

“Oh God--” Madison gagged the second she went in and immediately made a 180 back out. The place reeked of rot, excrement, and metal. Her head spun as she went to steady herself on a banister to catch her breath-- it snapped the moment she breathed in. Trying to catch her breath, she rubbed her arm over her eyes, which were watering. “I am 99 percent sure that there are dead bodies in there… I was greeted by something that’s dead, at the very least...”

She cleared her throat. “Could go for that water you stole from me right now...” Her bag was unzipped and she heard Sally rummaging through it.

“Here.” Sally handed her girlfriend a respirator mask. “You thought I was silly for packing these.”

Madison took the mask and put it on. If she wasn’t feeling as awful as she currently did, she would’ve sassed her partner. Instead she just gave her a thumbs-up. After standing there for a minute in silence, the two walked inside. Scanning the room with their flashlights, they saw what was inside.

Haphazardly strewn about the room were metal operating tables, covered in rust. Piles of clothes were pushed into a corner of the room, and the floor was covered in plastic. There were a few lamps around the room, but aside from those the room was bare. Everything was a mess, except for a wall that had quite a few cleavers neatly shoved into it.

“Hate to be Captain Obvious, but this is the place. Probably. Unless there are two people going about doing bad shit.” Madison inspected one of the tables-- it had a black, sticky outline of a human body imprinted to it. “I _really_ should’ve brought gloves… This place would not get a pass by the FDA.”

“Yeah. This person at least seems to be by the books, th-- Ugh!” Madison heard a thud and saw that Sally had dropped a large hardback floor onto the floor. “Everything here is either sticky or greasy… Disgusting.”

“Mhm...” Madison stepped away from the table she was looking at. “Say, did I get my tetanus shot? I don’t remember if I did.”

“Yeah, but you’re probably gonna have to get another when we got out of this place.” Sally wiped her hand off on her shirt, staining it.

“Maybe the rest of the house won’t be as awful...”

Carefully making their way through what they assumed to have been the living room, and possibly kitchen-- going off of what looked to be the remnants of a kitchen counter that was ripped away from the floor, they got to a door that was covered in unlocked padlocks.

“Oh, I don’t like that. At all.” Madison stared at them for a second. They then repeated what they had done at the front door. Again, there was no response to their actions. Stepping inside, Madison caught what she smelled to be vinegar. Thrown off by it, she shone her light around the room-- it was smaller than the last. She wasn’t sure what this room was-- it was the only door that she saw when they were in the last room. What she was sure of, however, were the jars that were placed around. “Oh… my God. Are these… pickled people parts?”

She crouched down to inspect one of them, refusing to touch anything. What looked to be human organs were in the jars-- there were dozens of them around the room. Her movements caused the contents to move around.

“Well, you were definitely right about the dhampir thing… Werewolves don’t get as freaky as bloodsuckers.” Sally coughed and cleared her throat. “At this rate, I feel like there’s going to be things that are still moving in the next room.”

“I hope to hell there isn’t...” Madison stood up and looked for another door, and saw that there was just one. _The layout of this place is fucking weird… No wonder it’s in bumfuck nowhere._

“Oh wow. There’s no floor for anything upstairs. Or, well... there’s isn’t even an upstairs.” Sally was looking up and had her light shining-- the house seemed like it wasn’t finished being built, or someone tore away all of the above floor.

Turning her attention to where Sally was looking, Madison inspected what was above them. “Huh. Only walls… Maybe the house eats pickled people to, uh… grow?”

“Nah, this place is just garbage.” She moved her light to a wall beside her. “This wall right here is just a thing of metal that was painted over. The renovations holding this place together are all bad DIY stuff, as we saw outside. “

Madison kicked the wall, causing it to make a bonging noise. “This isn’t even, like, a wall for a secret passageway-- it’s just a wall. A pointless wall in the middle of the room.” Taking a closer look at it, she saw screws messily placed along its edges.

“Well… Maybe this, along with the door to this room, are meant to keep something in?” Sally was now looking at the jars that Madison had been over. She accidentally bumped one of them, and gagged.

“Probably to keep anyone yoinked by that dhampir from leaving… There weren’t any signs of anyone being dead, so our freaky fanged friend probably locks the folks up.”

“Hopefully… This room’s really making me uncomfortable-- let’s get a move on.”

Madison was already waiting by the door, having made her way to it when Sally was gagging. Not waiting for her girlfriend to get on the side of it, she just opened the door. Beyond the doors were stairs that lead down to inky blackness. Her heart started to race.

“How wonderful… There’s a basement.” Madison stepped back from the door and motioned her partner towards it. “I went through the gate _and _through the last two doors-- you skipped your turn twice.”

Sally groaned and got to the door and shone her light down it. She couldn’t see the bottom, only darkness. “I hate basements…”

“Wanna toss something down there to see how far down it is first?” Madison was standing behind Sally on her tiptoes, her eyes squinting.

“There are only jars in here, so no… Would prefer to not slip on pickled organs and land on glass.” Sally reluctantly took a step forward, breathing in. _As long as the walls aren’t breathing this time, everything will be okay…_

Sally took her first step down the stairs, and a long groan came from the wood. She stopped and turned her head to look at her girlfriend. Madison gave her a weak smile and looked away. _This isn’t a haunted house… Just old and shitty… _She told herself, grabbing onto a handrail that was to her left. It was cold.

“Take your time… I don’t think that anyone’s waiting for us anyways.” Madison let out a weak laugh, her thoughts lingering on all of the jars that were in the room. She wasn’t entirely sure, but she believed that there were enough jars in there holding what was left of the missing people.

Slowly, the two walked down the stairs. Maybe it was just them, but the stairs felt like they went on forever. Feeling like they were far away from the foul smells from upstairs, they removed their masks and pocketed them. In time they found themselves at the foot of the stairs, and the two were greeted cold air. Both of them had felt cold as they had made their way down, but they had assumed that it was because it was dark and they were underneath the home. Their assumption was wrong, and their lights shone through a frosty mist as they saw a hastily put together freezer room before them. Hooks on the ceiling bore a little over half a dozen clear body bags that were filled to the brim with flayed meat.

“Looks like you were wrong about things maybe moving in the next room.” Madison spoke through chattering teeth, rubbing one of her arms with the the hand that held her flashlight.

“Wonderful...” Sally sneezed into her elbow. “There’s a lot more, uh... meat... here than there were people that disappeared recently… This has either gone on for a while, or some people from some other towns were picked up.”

“Could be both.” Madison avoided the hanging bags and examined the room. “More effort went into this freaky room than into the rest of the place… Still looks like shit, though.”

“I wonder how this place is even cold...” Sally rolled the arms of her sleeves back down. Her stomach was churning as she looked at the bags. “Do you think this has anything to do with those weird guys at the fair?”

“Uh… Maybe this is why their machine is broken…?” She shrugged and felt her hair tickle her shoulders, causing her let out a quiet yelp. She had wandered to the next door, which despite being in a room covered with metal sheets, was made of wood like all the others.

Hearing her, Sally peeked and just saw that her girlfriend had spooked herself. She let out a sigh. “Yeah, maybe.”

“Ready to see what lies beyond door number...” She paused to count-- she was starting to feel tired. “four?”

Yawning and feeling the cold air fill her lungs, Sally coughed and walked up to Madison and opened the door. Nobody was there, yet again. _There can’t be many more rooms to this place that are accessible… _She thought to herself. This room carried the smell of urine, but compared to upstairs it was nothing, so the two just walked in. It was cold in here, but unlike any of the rooms in the house that they’d seen so far, this one had a light. From the ceiling hung a flickering light, dangling by its wires. Sally and Madison both needed their flashlights still, but it was at least a welcome change, even though this room still wasn’t very pleasant. Old mattresses, ripped blankets, ropes, and chains littered the room-- this was where everyone had been kept. However, aside from them, nobody was in the room.

“Folks here aren’t really the most hospitable, huh? This is just a bit worse than the room we’re staying at.” Madison forced a laugh, trying to lighten the mood. She was feeling awful-- this whole house was disgusting her.

Not saying anything, Sally walked to the next door, seeing light shining through the bottom. Pulling the pistol she had with her, she took the safety off and looked at Madison, pointing at the door. Madison remembered that she was holding a revolver, looked at it, and nodded. The two were tired. The next room had to be the last-- if there were more, they’d just start to kick all the doors down until the found the dhampir.

They opened up the door, and heard the sound of a knife chop as the sudden light blinded them for a second.

“Hi. You two make a lot of noise… Makes it really hard for me to focus.” A deep voice filled with cracks came from in front of them. “Close the door-- you’ll let the cold air in.”

Standing in front of Sally and Madison was a person in black clothes and a black apron, their back facing the two as the person chopped up a corpse with a cleaver.

Sally and Madison looked at each other. “What the hell are ya doing!?” Asked Madison, frantically moving her arms at the person as the two girls continued to look at each other.

“I’m clearly chopping up a dead body.” Another chop, the person kept their back turned sliding a handless arm to their left.

“Why?” Sally asked. _Th__is freak__ really do__es__n’t care at all, do they?_

A click came from where Madison was. She held her gun to the dhampir with one hand, her finger over the trigger guard. She pointed at her finger, mouthing _“No accidents.” _to Sally.

"People pay for pickled people. And people-meat that isn’t pickled.” Another chop, this time with a crunch. A lower leg was moved this time. “Even more if it’s seasoned.”

“You mean filled with drugs?” Madison asked. She knew that was probably what that meant, but she still asked.

“Bingo.” It was the upper leg this time. The chop was squishier sounding than the last two.

“Will you stop this and come with us…?” Sally asked as she shrugged, looking at Madison with a confused expression.

“No. The Hunters will just lock me up. Or torture me.” The dhampir turned the body around.

“Well… I’m gonna shoot ya if ya don’t come with us.” Madison’s arm was growing tired as she held the revolver. _This thing’s really heavy… __I’d shoot you now and end this, but Sally wouldn’t be too happy about that._

“That won’t do much good. It’s not like you can kill me.” The dhampir cut a hand and slid it to the side.

“We’ve killed, what, 8 dhampirs?” Madison asked Sally-- she nodded. “8 dhampirs so far. 2 werewolves-- took a leg off of a third one.”

“That’s neat. I’m not a dhampir, however-- I’m a vampyre.” The ‘vampyre’ leaned down with their cleaver, shaking it in a bucket that looked to be filled with water. “Meant to do that before the hand… Stupid humans messing me up...”

“Have ya ever been shot before, Dracula?” Madison’s patience was running thin. Her eyes were now on the killer, but she heard a sigh come from Sally.

“Nope.” They were now drying the cleaver off.

“Cool beans.” She pulled the trigger.

_**BAM! **_Click._** BAM! **_Click._** BAM! **_Click._** BAM! **_Click._** BAM! **_Click._** BAM!**_

“Ow, that has more punch than I thought...” The revolver fell to the floor, and Madison shook her hand. “Ya still alive, pal?”

The person has fallen to their knees where they had been standing. They choked and coughed. “Were those… silver?”

“What? No-- they’re regular bullets, dumbass. Those books ya kept your head in were all fiction, like, didja really believe that crap? A stake through the heart can kill anybody, bullets of any kind will work on anyone, garlic and sunlight are allergies, decapitation is decapitation...”

“Holy water…?” Another cough. They cleaver they held clattered to the floor.

“Oh, that’ll just work on Melee players.” She laughed to herself. Sally shook her head. “Anyways, you’re not a vamp at all. No clue where ya got that idea from, but even if ya were one, ya wouldn’t have lived long-- Hunters have put stuff into medicine and whatnot to keep them from even coming about. Unlike werewolves, science can prevent vamps!”

“But I was bitten...” A cough with blood.

“A bite only works if a thing has a gland or disease-- Ya were a dhampir the moment ya were born.” Madison yawned and popped her knuckles, spinning on her heel to face the door. “Anyways-- have a nice time in hell. Summer’s almost over, but things are just gonna heat up for ya! In the off chance that you’re, like, reincarnated-- I don’t believe in that, but I have no experiences with the divine or demonic-- don’t murder people next time! Because you’ll get shot again. Don’t be a bad person! It’s really not that hard.”

There was no response or coughing from the dhampir.

“I’m gonna call Monica when we get out-- she’s probably still up.” Sally was looking around the room. “Dead end... Nobody else that’s alive.”

“No comment on me shooting someone this time?”

“They had their head up their ass… To be honest, I was tempted to shoot them myself.” She stretched and tossed her gun away. They people that Monica would have sent in would deal with the mess.

  
“We didn’t even ask their name… Was that rude?”

“They kidnapped people, murdered them, and chopped them up-- I think that it’s fair.”

“Mm, yeah. Probably.” Madison walked out of the room. “So… We did our job, the cops and the Hunters didn’t try doing theirs. That’s another one for the books.”

“Sure is... You wanna drive back home tonight or stay another night at the hotel?” The two girls were now walking out of the place, now in the freezer room.

“I think we can make it home before it gets too late-- I really don’t wanna spend another night in a bed that feels like cardboard.” They stopped on the stairs to catch their breath. “Also I haven’t gotten to sleep next to you for the past few weeks.”

Sally nodded. “We also haven’t had any hot water.”

Madison groaned and nodded. The two resumed their trek back to the car in silence, and once outside they went along the fence that was around the fairgrounds. A full moon was centered in the sky above them, illuminating enough for them to turn off their flashlights. It was still a bit warm outside, but a pleasant breeze was carried through the air-- the weather was a welcome change from what it had been earlier in the day, and what it had been like in the basement. As they got to the car, they noticed that all the lights in the fairgrounds were off.

“I wonder if those weird dudes are still standing in there...” Madison got into her side of the car, taking off her backpack. She sighed as she sat down.

Sally followed suit. “Would not surprise me in the slightest.”

“Oh!” Madison gasped and reached into her backpack, pulling out the cheesesteak sandwich. “You wanna split this with me?”

Tempted to grab the sandwich from her girlfriend, Sally nodded. Madison pulled a pocket knife out of her pocket. Following a click, she cut the sandwich in half, and felt the halves in her hands. While she wanted to heavier half, she handed it to Sally. Placing the keys into the ignition, Sally started the car, backing up out of the parking lot and starting to drive down the bumpy roads. The two ate in silence as they made their way to the hotel to pick what few things they had there before heading back home.

Their nights had already been paid for before they came to town, so the moment everything was in their car, they drove off.

“Do you want Chinese or Indian food this weekend?” Sally had rolled her window down and had her arm hanging out, one hand on the steering wheel. The wind felt relieving against her. She peeked over to Madison, and saw that she had fallen asleep. She sighed. _I’m not carrying her up when we get home…_

She pulled to the side of the road momentarily to get a blanket from the backseat to cover Madison with. Pausing with the blanket in her hand, she looked around-- she felt as if she was being watched. She saw nothing except for fields of corn on the sides of the road._ I’m just tired-- nothing’s out there… _She rubbed her eyes and yawned.

Once Madison was covered, she got back onto the road and continued to drive back home. It’d be a few hours, and she knew that the moment she hit their bed that she’d be asleep. The past few weeks had been long, and she had a few hours of sleep that she needed to catch up on.


End file.
